The Turkish “Ziraat 900” cherries are making headway in Far Eastern markets with the special Turkish Cargo deliveries at cheaper freight rates to help the Turkish growers penetrate that untapped market.
Aegean Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Exporters Association Chairman, Hayrettin Ucak: “We are delighted that we can deliver Turkish cherries to Chinese customers without any loss in quality. We have focused on finding new markets after the problems with the Russian market due to political problems between Turkey and Russia. The venture into Chinese and Malaysian markets was a part of this initiative. We place a great deal of importance on these markets and we have been actively trying to market and promote Turkish cherries in there. The first feedback we have received from customers in China was extremely positive.“
Cena Exporting Company Board Member, Caglar Saglam: “China is slowly becoming a very important export destination for us after Russia and Europe. As a company we have so far exported 40 tons of products within 4 weeks to China so we are exporting 10 tons per week. If we can find extra freight capacity, we can even go up to 20 – 30 tons per week which is our target for next year.”
Turkish cherries are sold at around 4.5 USD per kg at the export market, which is up about 15% compared to last year. Growers are separating their best quality products for exports. Turkey has exported so far 116 million USD worth of cherries which is 54% higher compared to the same period in 2017. Germany, Russia and Norway are the top-3 main export destinations whereas newly emerging markets such as Hong Kong (1.8 million USD), Singapore (1.3 million USD) and Malaysia (0.5 million USD) also showed great promise for the future.
Source: TRT Haber